By Dr. Gyan Pathak
It should be a wake-up call for the Union Government that the economically busy season of the year started in September, and the festival season September-October has failed to improve employment and unemployment situation in the country. Unemployment rate remained in Current Weekly Status (CWS) at 5.2 per cent in October 2025 as it was in July, Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) at 55.4 per cent in October as against 55.3 per cent in September, and Workers Population Ratio (WPR) at 52.5 per cent in October as against 52.4 per cent in September.
The latest Monthly Bulletin of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the month of October reveals this distressing data, despite all the claims of the Union Minister of Labour and Employment within the country and on international fora that India’s employment scenario is improving and unemployment rate has been declining sharply.
Even the data conceals many disturbing things including the headcount of the employed in the country. The government counts all the persons employed who got at least one hour of paid job in the past seven days, and also the family members who help their family enterprises without being paid for their work. Employment data is therefore exaggerated to veil the real unemployment in the country.
Nevertheless, the unemployment rate in CWS for persons of age 15 years and above in the country stood at 5.2 per cent in October. Unemployment in urban areas was far worse at 7 per cent compared to 4.4 per cent in the rural areas. The reason for the low unemployment rate in the rural areas is perhaps continuance of the agricultural activities for the Kharif and Rabi seasons.
Nevertheless, it is surprising that unemployment rate among rural male above 15 years stood at 4.5 per cent in October, that was worse than unemployment rate of 4 per cent for rural females. It shows larger participation of rural females in agriculture and other activities that males. There may also be another reason which relates to low income as agricultural or rural labour, which prompted the male workforce to seek jobs elsewhere in the urban areas.
However, they might have suffered much in search of jobs in the urban areas, because unemployment rate was far worse there at 7 per cent. Male unemployment rate in the urban areas was 6.1 per cent in October, while female unemployment rate was far worse at 9.7 per cent. It means labour market is urban areas have worsened, which was 6.7 per cent in August – 5.9 per cent for males, and 8.9 per cent for females. In comparison, female unemployment rate worsened faster than the male unemployment rate in the urban areas.
Youth of 15-29 years of age had unemployment rate as high as 14.9 per cent in the country – 14 per cent among males, and 17.1 per cent among females. Cleary, young females are more adversely affected than the young males, in the current labour market scenario in the country. Situation has deteriorated since August when it was 14.6 per cent.
As for WPR for the persons above 15 years of age, it stood at 52.5 per cent in October. It was 55.2 per cent in the rural areas and 47 per cent in the urban areas. It was 52.4 per cent in September – 54.8 per cent in rural areas and 47.4 in urban areas, showing only a minor improvement.
The data shows WPR in the rural areas better than urban areas, again due to increased agricultural activities. WPR among rural males was 74.8 per cent but for the rural females it was only 36.9 per cent, which was less than half. If WPR scenario is this how come the unemployment rate of rural males stood at 4.6 per cent and female employment rate at 4 per cent, is still unexplained.
Similar is the case with urban areas. WPR among female during October was 22.9 per cent compared to 70.8 per cent for males. However, the unemployment rates were 9.7 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively.
Youth WPR stood at 35.4 per cent in October – 52.5 per cent for males and 18.4 per cent for females. In August female WPR was at the same level while male WPR was 17.6 per cent.
LFPR for persons above 15 years of age stood at 55.4 per cent in October – 57.8 per cent for rural areas and 50.5 per cent for urban areas. LFPR among rural male was 78.4 per cent, and for female 38.4 per cent. It was 53.3 per cent in September at all India level – 77.1 per cent for males and 34.1 per cent for females.
In urban areas, LFPR among female of age 15years and above during October, 2025 was 25.4% compared to 75.3% observed for male of the same age group.
As for youth between the age of 15-29 years, LFPR was 41.6 per cent in October – among male 61 per cent and among female 22.2 per cent. (IPA Service)
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